Could the following product be produced from the following reaction without any reagents, catalysts or products? Why or why not?

Question

2-methyl-2 pentene +HCL —> 3- Chlor-2methyl-pentane

Answer 1

Yes, but it wouldn't be the major product. It might not even be measurable depending on how much starting material you had. The major product would be 2-chloro-2-methlypentane due to tertiary carbocations being more stable than secondary carbocations. Theoretically speaking, this just means that the overall rate of forming the product you want is lower than the rate of forming the major product I mentioned. So if we were to go by the theory, there would still be some of your product produced. However, things like temperature and solvent are extremely important here because they can revert the product back to the starting material and have it form the major product instead.